Directory

This directory page is intended to assist you in finding organisations involved in military history and heritage in Victoria.

Please make contact with the organisations directly.

Housed at Point Cook (near Melbourne), the birthplace of the Australian Flying Corps and the Royal Australian Air Force, the museum tells one of Australia’s most important aviation stories, that of the second oldest air force in the world.

MHHV Foundation Member

In early 1913, English aviator Lieutenant Henry Petre travelled hundreds of miles by motorcycle to inspect possible sites for a flying school on behalf of the Australian Government. Petre selected Point Cook. This former sheep paddock was purchased from the Chirnside family for ₤6,040 2s 3d and was to become the birthplace of military aviation in Australia.

In 1913 the new Central Flying School received five aircraft from Britain to train pilots for the Australian Flying Corps, and on the morning of 1 March 1914, a Bristol Boxkite aircraft flown by Lieutenant Eric Harrison made the first flight at Point Cook. The first flying training course at Point Cook commenced on 17 August 1914, just two weeks after the start of World War I. Lieutenant Richard Williams was the first of the four officer students to graduate in November 1914. Between 1914 and 1917, eight flying training courses were conducted at the Central Flying School, Point Cook. Hangars and wooden accommodation buildings gradually replaced tents and temporary buildings used by the first small group of instructional staff, students and mechanics.

The RAAF expanded steadily between 1921 and 1939 and Point Cook remained a busy training base for landplanes and seaplanes. A Seaplane Flight was formed at Point Cook to cooperate with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The RAAF provided the RAN with aircraft and crews to undertake reconnaissance, mapping and range-finding for naval gunfire. Two large Southampton flying boats were also used for coastal reconnaissance and parachute training at Point Cook between World War I and II.

Point Cook was the home of military flying training in the RAAF from 1914 to 1992. The Central Flying School, No 1 Service Flying Training School and No 1 Flying Training School (FTS) were the major RAAF training units based at Point Cook in this period. Pilots from the Army, Navy and overseas also received their basic flying instruction at Point Cook. The last flying training course at No 1 FTS graduated in 1992.

More demanding academic and technical training for the RAAF led to the establishment of the RAAF College at Point Cook in 1948. The College combined academic study and flying training and became the RAAF Academy in 1961. Graduates received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Melbourne. In 1986, the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra assumed the role of the RAAF Academy. The RAAF School of Languages moved to Point Cook in 1946. Courses in Japanese, Russian, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Arabic languages were conducted according to requirements. In 1993 the school became the Australian Defence Force School of Languages and is now based at RAAF Base Williams, Laverton.

The Roy​al Victoria Regiment (RVR) is an operational element of the Australian Army Reserve, and is part of the Corps of Infantry within the Australian Defence Force. The Regiment has inherited the histories and continues to represent the traditions of every infantry unit and battalion formed within the State of Victoria since 1854.

 

The Royal Victoria Regiment currently has two serving infantry battalions.

5th/6th Battalion based through out metropolitan Melbourne.

8th/7th Battalion based through out regional Victoria and western Melbourne metropolitan area.

These two infantry battalions make up the infantry combat power of the Army Reserve within Victoria.

The Museum is a Lake Boga Lions Club project and is a memorial to those who worked on and with the Flying Boats during World War II and particularly commemorates the contribution made by service men and women stationed at the No. 1 Flying Boat Repair Depot, Lake Boga, Victoria.

The Lions Club of Lake Boga run the Museum, now housed in a modern hangar which was officially opened on 21st April, 2012, overlooking the shores of Lake Boga in Willakool Drive. They employ staff and volunteers as guides and the Museum is open seven days a week between 9.30am and 4pm (except Xmas day and Good Friday).

Honouring Chauvel's achievements together with his qualities of integrity, resourcefulness,
and generosity of spirit. We seek to inspire future generations of Australians.

“PERPETUATING GALLANT SHIPS and BRAVE MEN”
PATRON: CDRE Jim Dickson AM MBE RAN Rtd

Parading as the  Mount Alexander Rifles (1865 – 1895)

Researching and Re-enacting Victoria’s Early Military History

The Victorian Colonial Infantry Association Inc, Mount Alexander Rifles are a group re-enacting Victoria’s Colonial Military past…

MHHV Foundation Member

We are available to add a historic military presence to community celebrations. Members attend in period military uniforms, and, depending on the event, can set up a historically accurate display of military life in the 1800’s, or fire a blank volley from period rifles. We are also available to give talks to community groups on early Victorian military history.  The Victorian Colonial Infantry Association Inc. researches the members and units of the early Victorian Defence Forces (VDF).

If you have an ancestor in the VDF, we may be able to help you find out where and when he served.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volunteers outside the Old Castlemaine Drill Hall, c1868

The Association was formed in 1860 and held its first individual competition at the end of that year. The first intercolonial teams match, Vic vs NSW, was held at Sandridge Range (Port Melbourne) in 1862. The first "Queen's Trophy" competition was held in 1881 on a range at Emerald Hill in the Albert-Middle Park area. In 1876 an Australian Rifle Team, consisting of shooters from NSW and Victoria, was the first team ever to officially represent Australia in any sport in international competition. They toured Britain and the USA competing in various shooting competitions including the USA Centenary Celebrations and the inaugural Palma trophy. This tour was so successful that it was decided to send an official cricket team overseas the following year.

By 1876 the early Melbourne ranges at Emerald Hill, Sandridge and elsewhere had been closed and a new range at Williamstown was opened in July 1876. This became the focal point for target rifle competition in Victoria for over a hundred years.

In 1885, the first civilian Rifle Club (Melbourne R.C.) was formed with the blessing of the VRA. Many others soon followed. After Federation in 1901, Rifle Clubs came under army control, but in 1921 they were reconstituted as a purely civilian organisation, where they have remained ever since.

In 1901 a new range at Port Melbourne was opened particularly for the use of civilian Rifle Clubs. It functioned until 1937, when all activity concentrated on the 220 target range at Williamstown.

If you have an organisation or group you think should be included here please email info@mhhv.org.au with the details.

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We are proud to have the support of the following organisations: